Sermon on the Mount

Last weekend we attended the most incredible event called the Sermon on the Mount. It is a ministry of Miracle Mountain Ranch, which is a little south of us in PA. Jeremiah went there one summer for camp. Anyway, the director, Lew Sterrett, trains a horse in a round pen while you watch, and all the while he is working with the horse, he is giving biblical principles and illustrations. The relationship between the trainer and the horse is like the relationship between us and God. He is incredible with horses, and the analogies and lessons are so powerful. We sat there in the drizzling rain for several hours, and it was worth every minute of it. If anyone ever gets a chance to attend, even if you have to drive aways, it is well worth it. He travels all over the USA. They also have alot of other neat ministries and publications. Check out their website at www.miraclemountainranch.com. I'm so impressed I can't stop telling people about it. I don't have any photos because our camera is in the repair shop.

More Concert Pictures

Here is Erika with the band director, Mr. Wilder, one of her favorite teachers. We believe he is a Christian, and he has been a wonderful influence and friend to her. Jeremiah has a similar close relationship with Mr. Maguda, who is the junior high band director. He is the one who gives Jeremiah tuba lessons and works with him in that area. The chorus director, Mr. Trenchard, is a strong Christian and is the minister at the Methodist church down the road from us.




Jeremiah started on the trombone in his first year at public school (7th grade). The next year, however, Mr. Maguda asked him to switch to tuba as they would be losing all of the tuba players in the high school band who were seniors. At that point he was given a smaller tuba, but it was still bigger than he was. The kids used to goof around and put Jeremiah in the tuba case and close it up and drag it around the house. He certainly wouldn't fit in it now at 5'9"!
Erika started flute lessons while homeschooling in 8th grade. She joined the band when she started public school in 9th grade with only a few months of lessons. The other kids had been playing since 4th grade. She is now playing at a level 6, which is the highest level in the SoloFest ratings. We are very proud of both of them


We hope that Erika will be able to continue to
use and enjoy her flute in a band or orchestra
at Cedarville College or in a local church.
A few months ago, Mr. Wilder began giving her
saxophone lessons as well. She picked that up very quickly as far as the fingering, and already knew how to read music, so she just had to
master the reed. We don't own a saxophone, however, so she won't get any further with that instrument. By the way, Erika has a wind instrument collection. So far, she has an ocarina, a fife, her regular flute, a Swiss recorder, a regular recorder, and a glass flute. With any graduation money she receives, she plans to buy
a Navajo flute.

Spring Concert

I love school concerts as much as I love parades! I think maybe it's because I went to schools that didn't have school bands, so I'm really excited about the kids being in band. This week was the Spring Concert, which is the last concert of the schoolyear. Usually they try to have it outside, and usually it starts to rain, so everyone has to move inside. Well, this time it turned out to be the hottest day we've had so far, plus it looked like the possibility of rain, so they just had it inside to begin with! At some point during the day, I realized that this was Erika's last school concert! So, I borrowed a digital camera to get some photos.



This is the high school chorus. This was Jeremiah's second year as a tenor. Can you locate him? I think next year he'll be a baritone.









Here he is--the circled face.
Two to the left (blond hair) is his cousin and best bud, Ethan. I am proud of Jeremiah for giving chorus a try. The chorus has made huge improvements in the past two years.









And here is our upcoming graduate, Erika, who
was in first chair flute position. All of the seniors had flowers to wear.

See the one and only tuba in the background?
That is Jeremiah.

I'm going to post more pictures, but I'm having trouble with the website uploading them, so will
try another post this evening.